playing n the dirt

In a little over a week Fort Lupton Colorado will celibrate it’s 100th annual Tomato Days Harvest Festival.  Actually, somewhere along the way, the name got changed to Trapper Days, but it still started out as Tomato Days.  I am in the mist of celibrating my own Tomato Days.  I have never had a crop like this and am begining to get buired in tomatos. 

I have decided that whatever I pick today and tomorrow I will take to work on Friday and any and everyone can help themselves.  A good friend and fellow gardener tells me that by sharing my crop I will be putting out into the universe good tomato karma.  I think he is probably right.

This spring was the first season for me to try green house gardening.  As a whole it was a big success.  I started with peppers and tomatos, because just north of Denver, Colorado the growing season is not much more than three months.

I did learn a few lessons, actually I kind of got a little greedy and forgot lessons that I already knew.  My biggest mistake was not thinning my seedlings enough.  So while I have lots of plants they are closer than they should be.  Being so close normal air flow is hindered and it does make the spread of pests easier.  I am also trying to get used to the green house being more humid.  Usually the natural weather is kind of on the dry side.  I’m not sure, but I wonder if the humidity made the pest problem worse.

I will try and remember these lessons and I am already looking forward to planting in the green house this fall once all the tomatos and peppers are harvested.

It’s been a great gardening season and now the crops are getting ready to harvest.  The harvest starts out kind of slow with a few ripe beans and zuchinni.  The wait for the first ripe tomato is almost unbearalbe.  But then things start to speed up and the next thing you know, you have dozens of everything.

So what do you do with all the crops you have to harvest?  Even the most die hard producer lover can only take so much of a good thing.  Sharing with friends and family is a great idea, but unless you have a lot of each, your still going to have more produce than you know what to do with.

The best thing to do with all that extra produce is to save it for later.  There are several good ways to do just that. 

Canning is what most people think of when they think about preserving food.  This is my least favorite way of preserving food.  It takes a lot of time, it is a hot job and it can make a big mess especially if a jar busts.

Freezing food is easier and you can do it to almost any produce.  Some food can just be washed and then frozen others should be blanched first and maybe peeled first and then frozen.

Roasting works great on any type of pepper.  We roast ours outside on the bar-b-que grill.  Then just let them cool and freeze them.  You do NOT have to peel them before you freeze them.

Drying food is about the easiest way to preserve food.  You can buy a dehydrator or let the sun to it for you.  Store the food in a clean,dry,dark area until ready to use.

Certain foods like carrots don’t need anything done to them.  You can store them in a clean, dry, cool area for up to several months.

Growing a great garden is a wonderful experience.  Eating the fruits of your labor in the dead of winter is an even greater experience.  If you’re new to food preserving I’d suggest you get some expert advice.  My favorite place to get that advice is MotherEarthNews.  They have a great website, www.MotherEarthNews.com where you’ll find all types of ways of preserving food.